our top stories: hundreds of activists in hong kong remain under siege inside polytechnic university. several prominent figures in hong kong have entered the university and persuaded a number of anti—government protesters under the age of 18 to leave. the us secretary state, mike pompeo, has announced that washington no longer considers israeli settlements in the occupied west bank illegal, reversing four decades of american foreign policy. and this story is still getting a lot of attention on bbc.com. prince andrew is reported to be standing by his decision to be interviewed by the bbc, about his links to the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. the interview has been widely criticised, including by lawyers representing epstein‘s victims. that's all. thank you for watching.

there's more news on our website bbc.co.uk/news and via the bbc news app. now, we can go live to singapore for asia business report. from's highway reprieve, the technology giant is giving another three months before a us bank takes effect —— trump'a huawei. and why tata steel is cutting 3000 jobs gci’oss tata steel is cutting 3000 jobs across its european business. hello. welcome to asia business report, i am sharanjit welcome to asia business report, i am shara njit leyl. welcome to asia business report, i am sharanjit leyl. washington has granted an extension for businesses to deal with blacklisted telecoms

giant huawei. it comes as regular does continue to work and rules that the front administration says pose national security risks. the bbc‘s mira hussein has the latest from new york. huawei has been one of the most volatile flashpoints between the us and china. the tax giant has long been viewed with suspicion in america. its status as a supplier of leading network technology as well as its perceived business to the chinese government has fuelled theories its equipment is or could be used for espionage. so, a few people were surprised in may when the trump administration chose to ban american companies from doing business with two. but the potential damage to american interests has the president to delay in enforcing that band. a series of 90 day licenses for huawei to keep buying us supplies has been issued. mr trump has also failed so hard to enforce a

rule preventing us companies from buying equipment from huawei. this latest extension to huawei's business firms will be welcome breathing space in the telecoms industry. and who knows? maybe it is a sign that a broader deal is still on the way. india's tata steel is planning to scrap 3000 jobs in europe. the announcement comes after a merger with the german arrival this improved, blocked during the summer. this improved, blocked during the summer. monica miller joins this improved, blocked during the summer. monica millerjoins us from them by. why are they cutting headcount? well, both of these companies, these rivals were trying to cut costs as there is a global steel glut that is on the market. prices have tanked since 2015. part of this has to do with the chinese economy which has slowed down. they are saying they have two cutjobs in

the netherlands and wales in order to make things squared. a lot of these jobs will be cut in office jobs, they aren't talking about any plant closures, but in wales alone we are looking at potentially 50% of those jobs being axed, we are looking at potentially 50% of thosejobs being axed, and we are looking at potentially 50% of those jobs being axed, and wales' economic minister says he is going to talk to them. just a week ago, a chinese owned firm said they were offering a $1.5 billion bailout for british steel that was going to save 4000 jobs. so it seems one step forward , 4000 jobs. so it seems one step forward, one step backwards. but essentially what they are looking at is cutting costs in order to survive. it looks like they are trying to bring tata steel out of the steel industry for right now. monica miller in mumbai, thank you for that. more news making headlines, accountancy firm kpmg has

not renewed its sponsorship of the duke of york's entrepreneurship but from, pitch at palace. the company is thought to have made the decision at the end of october. but controversy at the end of october. but c0 ntrove rsy over at the end of october. but controversy over prince andrew potts matthijs de ligt convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein is understood to be one reason behind the decision. the decision follows his appearance on bbc‘s newsnight interview, which critics likened to a car crash. donald trump has reportedly reversed plans to ban flavoured e—cigarettes following a youth vaping crisis. he announced plans in september, but according to reports decided not to enact it this month because of possible job losses and voter pushback. mr drum said he would meet industry and medical professionals to find and acceptable solution." abn b has signed on to

sponsor solution." abn b has signed on to sponsor the olympic games until 2028 —— aribnb. they join sponsor the olympic games until 2028 —— aribnb. theyjoin a list on alibaba —— aribnb. theyjoin a list on aliba ba and coca—cola —— aribnb. theyjoin a list on alibaba and coca—cola for the ioc, the governing body of those games. a drought on australia's east coast has devastated this year's wheat crop. it's been warned that the ripple effect in the global market means neutral makers across asia now have two rely on supplies from the black sea region as well as south america instead of their preferred australian weed. 0ver america instead of their preferred australian weed. over 30% of australia's wheat exports go to asian nations, including india, indonesia, vietnam and china. total wheat production is expected to be 24 million tons this year. but finn is evil from national australia 24 million tons this year. but finn is evilfrom national australia bank says it could be 15 million tons. ——

finn zeibel —— zeibell. says it could be 15 million tons. —— finn zeibel -- zeibell. the challenge phaser is to supply —— for asia is to supply wheat. certainly it means moving supply chains and talking about different quality and grains of wheat. the challenge for us grains of wheat. the challenge for us in australia is, we are a small player globally in wheat markets but we have premium markets in asia. the challenge for us is we have no production, and increasingly because of domestic stockfeed demand on the is closed. we don't have supply either. how do we reengage with that market once this is over, because it will end at some point. will australian producers be locked out of those markets because of cheaper supply from somewhere else? that's interesting. the suggestion that a lot of asian markets prefer a high—quality wheat from australia,

they are now having to source elsewhere as has been mentioned. so what is this going to have on the impact of wheat prices? globally, australia is a price taker. we do get premiums for high—quality noodle wheat, and so we should because we produce a high—quality product that is demanded in asia. the challenges you have global wheat consumption something like 750 million tons and australia in a good season might do 25. so australia is a small player, and we get premiums in these markets like needles in asia, but ultimately it is tough to compete against lower prices from elsewhere, even for inferiority inferior quality product if you don't have to supply itself. and western australia is the biggest exporting state in general season for wheat to asia. last season, wa did something like ten or 11 million tons of wheat, we think it is going

tons of wheat, we think it is going to be 6.3 this year. so there is a big hole in supply there. when the west has a better season, the question that is going to be on people's mines is will buyers continue to be interested in buying? finn zeibell speaking to me there. the bosses of yahoo japan and line have officially announced their merger. they'll have a market value of over $30 billion. mariko 0i has more on the story. just how significant is this? it's very significant is this? it's very significant because, even though i think it's fair to say that most of our viewers think of them do mark as that search engine that lost to rivals like google, injapan, it's huge with 15 million subscribers. it is still the country's leading search engine —— 50 million. it also does news segments as well as having the country's biggest auction site. line is the country's because

messaging service with over 80 million subscribers. combined, even though there would be some overlap, they have a user base of over 100 million people. in many areas like news and mobile payments, they were competitors. so why did they decide to merge? let's hearfrom the bosses of yahoo japan and line which had a conference last night. translation: instilled today, we have been a rival to compete and motivate each other —— until today. the boat from november 18, we made a big decision to go hand—in—hand and you aim for the higher level. translation: although the us and china have become the dominant players in internet market, i thought making japan another play in asia was one of the biggest challenges we had to deal with. so they talked about competing with american technology giant but we are talking about, facebook, google and amazon, but also chinese super apps

like 10 cents. let's put this into perspective, even though their combined market value of $13 billion, it is still nothing compared to amazon, which is worth nearly $900 million, sharanjit. thanks for the update from america. before we go, let's take a look at the markets and how they are trading at the moment. we know they are fairly flat. a lot of causes traders out there, the nikkei is down 0.5% due to jaded sentiment regarding those us trade talks. that's it. thank you for watching. let's bring you up—to—date with our top stories this hour: prominent figures in the hong kong government have entered the blockaded campus of a major university to persuade protesters to leave. the trump administration has reversed decades of us foreign

policy by announcing that washington no longer considers israeli settlements in the occupied west bank illegal. it's a deadly fungal tree disease called ash dieback that's swept across europe and could wipe out most of the ash trees in britain. well, now scientists say there's new hope after a team from the royal botanic gardens kew identified the genes that provide resistance to ash dieback. it means trees could be bred that are unaffected by the epidemic. the research is published in thejournal nature, ecology and evolution. 0ur science correspondent rebecca morelle reports. the stunning colours of autumn revealing the richness of our forests, but they're under threat. in 2012, ash dieback arrived in the uk from europe, where it's already ravaged woodlands. it's caused by a fungus that kills the ash trees it attacks. one of the classic symptoms of ash dieback is a darkened lesion

on the bark of the tree, and we can see this long diamond—shaped lesion where the fungus has grown into the tree. but, by studying these trees, researchers have discovered a very small proportion are resistant to the disease and they've now pinpointed the genes that fight off the fungus. it does give us hope that by understanding the differences between the dna of ash trees with and without resistance to ash dieback, we'll be able to breed trees with increased resistance and those will help to safeguard future populations of ash. this disease really is transforming our woodlands. it's estimated that there are 100 million ash trees in the uk, but the rapid sweep of this deadly fungus could kill off up to 70% of them. and a recent report put the cost of this loss at £15 billion. in their search for a solution, scientists have been extracting dna from ash leaves. the idea is to take the genes that are helping trees resist the disease

and incorporate them into new plants through breeding. but ash isn't the only tree in trouble, so a major project has been under way to collect 15 million seeds from different woodland species. they're stored at minus 20 in a giant freezer. it's an insurance policy against future threats. the hope is that this new research could preserve woodlands for future generations. rebecca morelle, bbc news. let's hope so. lots more on our website and social media. now on bbc news: sport today. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: a day one upset at the davis cup as canada's vasek pospisil stuns italy's fabio fognini.

russia bp holders croatia 3—0. denmark hold on in ireland to seal their qualification for the european championship finals. and despite missing out on the rugby world cup title, england head coach eddiejones speaks to us about why he believes his side can still dominate the sport. welcome to the programme, thanks forjoining us. it's being called the world cup of tennis, with 18 countries involved. the davis cup finals have got underway in spain with a brand new format. more on that in a moment, but there's already been a big upset with italian world number 12 fabio fognini beaten by canada's vasek pospisil, who's ranked 150th in the world after recovering from back surgery. korin kashanov one his match against coric, making it a 3—0 victory. canada pulled off a big shock by beating